The 111th Carnival of Homeschool – Cabin Fever Edition

About this time of winter the kids start getting a little restless and cranky. Cabin fevers are running high and it takes a resourceful homeschool parent to keep the troops happy and contented. And as you probably heard, the official Pennsylvania groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow on February 2^nd, and that means we’re in for at least six more weeks of winter. Before you decide to pack up the kids, however, and move to sunny Florida, check out this carnival of great posts. There’s something here to keep everyone busy until the weather finally breaks!

The Weather Outside is Frightful ‘“ Activities to Keep ‘˜Em Busy

Timothy of Sometimes I’m Actually Coherent has decided to do away with the winter doldrums and take at least one field trip a month. In this blog, he tells all about his family’s February Field Trip–Carding, Spinning, and Weaving.

Howtome has a complete list of supplies and instructions for How to Make a Quiet Book (including pictures of the finished product).

Want to make learning a real adventure this Valentine’s Day? Freehold2 has 14 Great Valentines Sites that will make this Valentine’s Day a memorable occasion.

Winter is the perfect time to explore new hobbies. Startstampcollecting.net shares an informative article about The Hidden Passion of Stamp Collecting. The author states, ‘Hobbies are the most wonderful pastime to have, harboring personal interest and enjoyment. Every person has a passion for something that he or she engages in leisure time.’

Home Spun Juggling has an interesting post about some Bas relief models they made out of clay. It kept all of the children in her art class busily creating in What a Relief!

Cooped up in the house for weeks on end? Why not make your own fun memories! Raani of Homeschooling Hints blogs about how she believes in fun child-directed activities for homeschoolers. Read about it in Funschooling.

Kerry from A Ten O’Clock Scholar shares her favorite resources about St. Valentine at Valentine’s Day Fun for Homeschool

Sprittibee has organized all of her favorite resources in one post called My Big Fat Homeschool Links List. Pour yourself a cup of tea and settle down to enjoy these great links.

Jill Novak from Through the Windowpane is offering a sampler issue of The Girlhood Home Companion. Each edition’s theme is explored in-depth through editorials, articles, and stories, while teaching her the practical skills of homemaking, cooking, crafts, sewing and other girlhood pastimes. Reading The Girlhood Home Companion together is a delightful and profitable way to pass a dreary winter’s day.

There are No ‘Snow Days’ for Homeschoolers (unless you want to take one).

Bending the Twigs shares how a homeschooler’s learning experience can be enriched by taking field trips to local museums in A Private Tour through the Museum of Knowledge

The Public School spends $5,000.00 per student, yet Mrs. C of Homeschool and Etc. only spends $850.00 on two! How does she do it? Find out as Mrs. C reveals her secrets of frugality in Mom’s Cheapo Homeschool

If you’re teaching your child the evolution theory, check out Living the Scientist Life. They have a New Evolution Journal Now Available ‘“ FREE!

If you’ve ever wondered how the Egyptians taught fractions, the secret is uncovered at The Secret of Egyptian Fractions from Let’s Play Math.

Wild about Math shares an amazing way to find the digital root of any number, plus some great shortcuts to adding numbers to 9. Check it out in Math magic with the number 9!

Do you need to get more organized? One of the biggest fears and frustrations about homeschooling is the daunting task of staying organized. Well, you don’t have to be frightened any longer! Just Enough, Nothing More tells the 5 Ways to Getting Organized, Deschooling Style

Things are heating up for Nebraska homeschoolers. Legislative Bill 1141 seeks to introduce standardized testing for all home school students, but does testing really prove anything? Principled Discovery thinks not as she investigates the argument that Testing Homeschool Students Has Merit

Make the most of a terrific learning opportunity involving a total lunar eclipse on February 20, 2008. Check out the details here at Lunablog: One Night Only: Learn Science and History right in your own backyard!

Is College Worth It? Phil for Humanity has great information on the changing scene of today’s colleges.

Henry Cate of Why Homeschool has posted a book review for A Guide Book to Learning by Mortimer Adler. ‘This is a good book, well worth reading. I will probably buy it and have my daughters read it when they get older. And we’ll then discuss the book,’ Henry says. You’ll read your next book differently after taking a look at his post.

Eric at Teachers Call tells us, ‘Computer technologies are tools that you can use to help your students learn language if you plan your lessons to include them.’ Learn more at: Computer Mediated Communication & Teaching Grammar

Welcome to My Brain shares a super fantabulous way to display your own free timeline. Read her post Time. Time. Time. See what’s become of me

Do you care about history? Does anyone anymore? Barbra Frank inspects the subject closer in Who Cares About History

Quiet Time by the Fire

How would Jesus Schedule? In order to minister to those around us, Robin from The Heart of Wisdom tells us why we need to ask God to help us learn to schedule by faith. Make yourself a cup of hot cocoa and be challenged and refreshed by this powerful post.

This inspiring post by Professor Mom is the beginning of a nine-week series on the Core Elements important to every home school educator. Don’t miss Watch the Donut: How to Focus on Opportunity

On Rob Moshe’s Purpose Realized blog, the author has been pondering the question, ‘When was a time in your life where you felt the greatest sense of reward?’ He answers with a post entitled, Living Your Best Life by Serving Others.

Agent Tim Online confesses the heart attitudes he was struggling with until the Lord showed him a true lesson in humility by way of Closing his Dresser Drawer.

Snuggle Up to a Good Read

Linda of The Joyful Journey got a little mad when she stumbled across the article ‘Why I would Never Homeschool my Children.’ She posted a great rebuttal in, Give Me a Break!

Mamma Squirrel has posted rebuttals about homeschooling before, but now she is pondering the question, ‘Who is really weird?” Is it really homeschoolers or all them other folks out there? She states her opinion in, ‘Bubba and me think that homeskoolers are not so freaky.’

Jennifer’s Musings has posted a call to arms on her blog. She needs people to send letters and make phone calls to the Nebraska State Legislature. I Want You for the Homeschool Movement.

Tea Party Girl wonders if your expectations of day-to-day homemaking were anything like hers. She states, ‘In other words, I can’t believe I’m the ONLY girl who woke up one day and realized, ‘Wait a minute! Nothing in my schooling prepared me for THIS!’ Help her answer a poignant question and get the discussion rolling at Would You Help Me Aanswer That Question?

What kind of teacher are you? A Woman on Purpose shares about the different types of educational philosophies in Various Educational Philosophies and a Migraine . ‘I propose that the solution is right there in the home-parents who will see to it that their child is not just educated, but nurtured in a loving, wholesome environment. But that’s just too easy, isn’t it? No one gets any glory, power, or federal funds for that.’ Wow, this lady tells it like it is!

Can the U.S. Prevent a Starvation Crisis? This whole site at blogspot is dedicated to finding out. What can the U.S. do for the current food crisis?

Alasndra’s Homeschool Blog Awards added another reason why some homeschoolers become bitter in her post: Another reason for the Bitter Homeschooler to be Bitter

At Adventures in Daily Living Suzanne is using the ‘Raising Godly Tomatoes’ method to train up her son in Staking Our Tomato.

Alejandra at A Guide to Raising Great Kids has some excellent advice on staying close to your boys while they’re growing up. Communication is essential in: Raising Boys and Protecting Their Feelings

There is an interesting discussion going on at Mom is Teaching. Do boys have a different learning style then girls? Should boys stay at home and girls go to public school? Read: Educating Boys: The Debate Goes On.

Has your school day ever felt out of control? Maybe you drank too much coffee and got the shakes!? Well some moms will doing anything to make learning real and Homeschooling and Real Life couldn’t have asked for a better example to back up her lesson than in Weird But True.

I’m pretty sure that homeschooling gives children superior brain power ( I’m prejudiced being a homeschooler myself), but at Life on the Planet, this homeschool mom has found that her children learn history by osmosis in Homeschooling Expands the Mind.

Andrea of Notes from a Homeschooling Mom posted a short video rebuttal. Watch it at Stupid things stupid people say about homeschooling. (Parental supervision required for the beginning of this video).

Thawin’ Out

Carol from Homeschool CPA ended up being Co-op Director for a Day. What could possibly go wrong? Does the program Twilight Zone ring a bell?

The Upside down World has an interesting post about the Unpopular Public Schools in Nevada. ‘Just 11% would send their kids to public schools? I would LOVE to see this survey done on a national level,’ she says.

Ragamuffin Studies posted about their Socialization Semester, Elisheva says, ‘With the freedom to talk to and learn from people of many different ages, as well as learning to deal with many different settings and situations, and with a little advice from adults who love them, homeschoolers seem to become noticeably well-adjusted people.’ No way is this kid going to be un-socialized!

At a Diary of 1 the author explains the reasons why she is a reactionary homeschooler rather then a pro-active homeschooler. Which are you? Reactionary Homeschooler, Inquiring About Options.

The weekly column from Learning at Home is about caring for aged parents and homeschooling children in Life in a Sandwich. The author says, ‘I know I am learning a lot’¦I’m planning to write about some of those adventures in the coming days when there are periods of calm and stretches of time where I’m not needed elsewhere.’

If you are looking for an interesting way to help a third world country, you can find it at the Nerd Family’s Blog. At this site they donate 20 grains of rice for every word you define correctly. For the few minutes I participated, I donated 200 grains of rice. Individually, that may not seem like much, but with the home school community’s help, it will add up fast. Learning, Competing, Rice.

Melissa’s Idea Garden posts about the neat T-shirt she won in the Homeschool Boutique. ‘If you are looking for neat homeschool items, there are plenty of things at the Homeschool Boutique that can tickle your fancy!’ says Melissa.

Celeste from Life without School wrote about the party she attended last year. The music she heard surprised her a little bit. Never too Old.

Dwayne Tucker has a Free Desktop BackGround available! Be sure to check it out and try it on your computer.

Here are two entries that I didn’t receive for some reason.

Permalink URL: http://thethinkingmother.blogspot.com/2008/02/should-i-start-slow-socializing.html
Title: Should I Start a Slow Socializing Movement?
Blog URL: http://thethinkingmother.blogspot.com/
Name: The Thinking Mother
Remarks (provided by author): ChristineMM suggests that families start a new movement called ‘Slow Socializing’.

URL: http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2008/01/comment-from-reader-and-delving-into.html
Title: Comment from a Reader and delving into Menu Planning, Shopping Lists, and Pantry more
Name: Laura William Musings
Remarks: None